


Fights

by KennaM



Category: Big Hero 6 (2014)
Genre: Big Brothers, Brothers, Bullying, Family, Fighting, Gen, Pre-Canon, Sibling fights
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-12
Updated: 2015-06-12
Packaged: 2018-04-04 02:46:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4123024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KennaM/pseuds/KennaM
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tadashi isn't the best big brother, but he tries.</p>
<p>(Tadashi is 15, a sophomore, and Hiro is 8, in 6th grade.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fights

**Author's Note:**

> There are references to bullying, but they're very vague with no details.

Tadashi held a shiny metal robot in his fist when he came down for breakfast. It had been sloppily painted purple, and Cass instantly knew it couldn’t be his. Lately all of Tadashi’s after-school projects had been sports related – rocket-propelled roller blades, or the GPS-enabled snowboard, or the motor scooter he was building from scratch in the garage. No, the robot, which looked like something from a Saturday morning cartoon, was definitely Hiro’s work.

“Morning, Aunt Cass,” Tadashi said. He slung his backpack over a chair and joined her in the kitchen, where he began digging through the fridge.

“What are you looking for?” Cass asked, “I’m making breakfast now. And is that Hiro’s?”

Tadashi resurfaced with a plate of pork and rice. “Yep,” he said. The plate went into the microwave and the robot onto the counter for display. “He made it last night. And look!” Tadashi pressed a button on one of the arms, and a beam of red light shot out. “It even fires lasers!”

_So that’s where Mochi’s laser pointer went,_  Cass thought. “He’s going to be so mad at you, put that back.”

Before Tadashi could complain, they heard Hiro angrily yell his name from the floor above, and moments later, he appeared at the top of the stairs. “Where is it?!” he shouted, but spotted the robot standing on the kitchen counter, and ran down the stairs two at a time. He charged into the kitchen just as Tadashi grabbed the robot off the counter, and held it above his head.

“What, this?” Tadashi asked, pretending to examine it. He turned it over in his hands, and Hiro yanked down hard on his shirt with one hand as the other swatted the air madly.

“Give it back!” Hiro cried.

“Tadashi,” Cass said warningly.

“But I haven’t finished looking at it!” Tadashi sidestepped the kitchen counter and made for the living room, the robot still held above his head. When Hiro started to give chase, Tadashi swerved around the dining table, trying to keep it between them.

“You’re gonna break it!” The microwave began to ring just as the sausage on the stove started popping, and Cass took a deep breath to try to calm her nerves.

“I’m not going to break it,” Tadashi said. He ran to the other side of the table to avoid Hiro.

“Tadashi!” Cass said again, with more force. The boys both looked up at her. “Give that back to your brother.”

Tadashi hesitated for a moment, then reached across the table to hand the robot back. Hiro snatched it with a glare and held it to his chest.

“Now apologize to your brother.”

He hesitated again, as if seriously considering not doing it. Finally, he mumbled, “sorry Hiro.”

“Now, Hiro,” Cass said.

“What did  _I_  do?” he whined.

“Go upstairs, and get ready for school. Now,” she added when he began to pout. “I don’t care if you’re smarter than all the other kids, you’re lucky enough they let you advance three grades. You’re going.”

With another glare at his brother, Hiro turned and ran up the stairs. After a few moments, Tadashi mumbled, “sorry, Aunt Cass.”

***

There was blood on Tadashi’s knuckles when he came home from school. He tried to hide it by stuffing his hands into his sweater’s pockets, but Cass could tell. He had that look in his eye he always got when he came home after a fight. Cass set a part-timer on the register and quickly excused herself from the counter to meet her nephew at the bottom of the stairs before he had a chance to disappear.

“It’s fine, Aunt Cass,” Tadashi said hurriedly. She lifted the backpack off his shoulder, and slowly he removed his hand from his pocket so she could take it. The skin was bruised and had already started to scab. It looked ugly, and as soon as he could he hid it again.

Some customers had begun to stare, so Cass quickly shooed him upstairs. He slouched onto a dining chair and Cass set his bag on the table in front of him. At the sink, she ran water over a washcloth.

“What was it this time?” she asked. Tadashi took the cloth from her but said nothing, making a point to avoid her eyes. She repeated the question.

“I went past the school to pick Hiro up,” he finally said. Cass let out a deep sigh and sunk into the chair beside Tadashi.

“Those are middle schoolers,” Cass said pleadingly. “You can’t fight kids two years younger than you.”

“They should have thought of that before…” he started to say, but his voice trailed off. He started fiddling with the keychains on his backpack. After a moment, he added, “no one really got hurt.”

“They’re just kids,” Cass said.

“That doesn’t mean it doesn’t matter, what they do to him,” Tadashi said hotly.

Cass took a deep breath, and stood up again. She didn’t want to fight him on that point. “I have to get back to work,” she said. “Where’s Hiro?”

“I think he said he was going to the library,” Tadashi said.

“And you let him go? Alone? You should have brought him back home first.”

“I think he was embarrassed,” Tadashi said. “He’ll be back before long, don’t worry.”

Cass sighed, and straightened her apron. “Fine,” she said, and started towards the stairs. “Get started on your homework.”

An hour later Tadashi found Hiro in the garage, slumped at a desk in front of a computer. He stiffened when he heard Tadashi approach, but didn’t turn to look. On the screen were more bot schematics, his new project.

“You know,” Tadashi started to say, hesitantly, and Hiro pointedly ignored him, “what we really need is a 3D printer.”

Hiro sniffed, then finally turned slightly to look back at his brother. His eyes were red. “What?”

“A 3D printer. So we can just make all the parts we need.” Tadashi crossed over to his work station, and sat on the stool in front of his scooter. “But they’re pretty expensive, Aunt Cass definitely wouldn’t be able to spot us. And I don’t know if I have enough saved up.”

Hiro watched his brother for a moment, as he sorted absently through the tools in his box. “I have some saved up,” Hiro said. “How expensive?”

Tadashi met his brother’s eyes. “I don’t know, let’s look it up,” he said.


End file.
